106 - Missing at the Holidays

Shaun Every year around this time, as the holidays are approaching, we take some extra time to talk about cases of missing persons from around the country.

John As we sit down to those holiday dinners and gatherings with family, it's important to remember that there are so many families out there who are missing their loved ones all throughout the year. This week we'll highlight five missing persons cases. People missing at the holidays.

Shaun Hi, and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I'm your host, Sean.

John And I'm your co-host, John.

Shaun Happy holidays and happy New Year to everyone. We are hoping that you enjoyed the special collaborations we worked on this holiday season for all of you with some of our friends from the podcasting world. We had an absolute blast working on them so we hope you enjoyed them as well. But this week we're turning back to our typical content, and what's become a tradition for John and I on the podcast are special. Missing at the holidays episode. This is the third one that we've done since we started the show. So, John, you want to get us started?

John Absolutely. Our first case today is the disappearance of Mason Roberson. Mason was born November first, two thousand and seven. He was sixteen years old at the time of his disappearance, and he turned eighteen this past November of twenty twenty five. He comes from Anchorage, Alaska. His mom is named Marti Romero and his dad is David Roberson. As a family, they were very, very close. They spent a lot of time together. They enjoy nature up in Alaska. They go on fishing trips. They go on annual trips to Hawaii. They're very close. Mason loves to play video games, especially Rainbow Siege six, and he is extremely intelligent. According to his parents, he was often up in his room playing games, which I know we can relate to. It wasn't that he was reclusive, though. He was just a homebody who spent a lot of time with his family, and he was obviously very well loved by his parents. But Mason, unfortunately carried a lot more than your typical sixteen year old. He had aunts and uncles pass away when he was young, and his big brother passed away when he was only seven years old, which really affected him. By the time he was seventeen, he turned to alcohol to numb some of the pain, which was obviously a problem for his parents, who were worried about him. He said that drinking made him less depressed. In an interview, his parents described the day he went missing. It was May fourth, twenty twenty four and Mason was in the kitchen heating up some pizza. His dad saw that he was obviously intoxicated and brought it up to him. That made Mason pretty mad, and he threw the plate of pizza and stormed down to his room, which was in the basement. A while later, they went to check on him after receiving a text from him which read, I genuinely don't need you. And they realized that he had left through the basement door. They visited the neighbor and the neighbor's ring. Camera footage showed Mason walking down the street unsteadily, and in the footage you can see him disappear behind a tree and then hear the sound of his phone being smashed on the ground. And that's where they found it. So obviously he was not interested in being tracked. His family searched for months after reporting him missing. They got several in local news outlets to cover his disappearance, and they also asked his friends if they knew where he might go. Some had no idea, and one friend suggested that Mason said he had thousands of dollars tucked away and he might have gone to California. They heard essentially nothing from Mason until his seventeenth birthday, when they got a mysterious text from an unknown number. It said, long time no see. Hope you are all right. They found that really strange because they used the expression long time no see often among the family, so they thought it was really likely that it was actually him. They replied to the text but didn't hear back. Then again, on May eleven, twenty twenty five, Mother's Day, they received another text message from another unknown number that said, how was your day? Hope you had some fun! They received a few other very obviously phishing text messages, as we all do, but those two stuck out to them in particular as sounding very much like they could have been Mason. His mom and dad remain hopeful that they'll hear from him and that he's safe. They think he might be in California, so they ask that anyone hearing about the case, take a look at his photo and please contact them if they see him. They also emphasize that they aren't looking to prosecute anyone or make trouble for anyone. They just want to know that Mason is safe, and even if he's safe and he doesn't want to come home, we'll share photos of Mason. He is five foot seven, one hundred and fifty five pounds. He has brown eyes and brown hair, and he wears glasses. They've put up a ten thousand dollars reward for information directly leading to locating Mason alive, you can email find Mason at gmail.com. Or you can call the Anchorage Police at nine oh seven seven eight six two six two seven, who can quickly get in touch with his parents. His case number is two four one two five five two. You can also call the National Center for Missing and Endangered Children at one eight hundred The lost.

Shaun Our next missing person we have to highlight this week is a man that has been missing for more than five years. Derrick Evans Jr, also known as tank, was last seen at his home in Valdosta, Georgia. Valdosta is in southern Georgia, only about a twenty minute drive from the Florida border. So about an hour and a half from Tallahassee, but over three hours from Atlanta. Countless people love and miss Tank, including his mom, Tamara, who has been striving to keep his name in the news. And she also runs the family's Facebook page, and his aunt Tawanna also misses her nephew and continues to hope that someone will come forward with information. Tank was born on April twenty fourth, nineteen ninety four, making him thirty one years old. His mom says he loves dancing and his favorite music artist is Nicki Minaj. He has an outgoing spirit and a laugh that the family really misses hearing. Tank was last seen when he was twenty six years old on Saturday, November seven, twenty twenty, at his home in the Magnolia Square Apartments in Valdosta. He had a friend over at his house and when that friend left, tank said he had company coming by and he would call his friend after that company went home. He had plans to meet up with that same friend at a nightclub that night, but tank never called and he never showed up at the club. According to the Charley Project, a witness saw tank standing in the back of his residence having a heated conversation with someone on the phone. The witness said that an unknown individual came over to the apartment, but when tank got to the door, the person was driving away. Tank then ran to catch up with the car, got into it and they drove off. Unfortunately, we don't have access to a description of the car or the person that was seen at his front door that day. Valdosta police have said that they've exhausted all leads. They've followed up on any and all tips they've received through the family, through anonymous sources, and the search has led them across multiple jurisdictions. But there's just no answer as to why or how tank disappeared. His family has conducted their own searches, passed out flyers and on his thirty first birthday in April of twenty twenty five, a billboard was placed in nearby Remington, Georgia. But sadly, the billboard has not yet helped the family get any answers. His mom, Tamara, has said this has really changed our life. It's hurting and I just want closure. I just want to know where my baby is. Just give us closure so we can go on with life because this is hurting. Derek Tank Evans Jr is a black male. At the time of his disappearance, his black hair had been dyed a bright pink color. He has brown eyes. His ears are pierced, and he has a rose tattooed on his back and stars tattooed on his arms. He is five foot eleven inches tall and weighs one hundred and ninety eight pounds. As always, we will share photos of tank this week, so please check out our Instagram at survivors to see and share his photos. He was last seen wearing a t shirt with cartoon figures on it, Nike shorts and Nike Air Force ones. He was twenty six years old at the time of his disappearance, and in April of twenty twenty six, he turned thirty two. If you have any information, you can contact Valdosta PD at two two nine two nine three three one four five or submit a tip anonymously at two two nine two nine three three zero nine one. You can contact the family through the missing Derrick Lashun Evans Jr Facebook page, and we'll have a link in our sources this week. Tamara has said if you hear anything, you know anything. You don't have to reach out to me. Reach out to the detective, anybody. I don't care if it's a stranger on the street. If you feel like leaving that message with a stranger would help us help because we need it. We're going to pause here and take a short break, but we'll be right back with the rest of our cases from missing at the holidays.

John Our next case is the disappearance of twenty three year old Brenda Gail Lambert, missing from Blue Well, West Virginia in Mercer County on July twenty six, nineteen ninety two. This case has more twists and turns than a West Virginia road, and it definitely needs an expanded explanation. But for now, we're going to focus on Brenda's disappearance. Brenda was born December twenty six, nineteen sixty nine, so she was twenty three when she disappeared. She had six brothers and sisters, including her brother Tim Christian and her sister Kristy Kennedy. They have done an amazing job of keeping up the search for their sister. According to her family, she was a bit of a tomboy and she was very feisty. She quit high school at the age of fifteen and ended up getting married to a man named Raymond Lambert in nineteen eighty six. Her first child, a daughter, was born shortly thereafter, and her family all talk about what an amazing mother she was. She had another child, a son, in nineteen ninety one. Unfortunately, Brenda was often on the receiving end of domestic violence from Lambert, including strangulation and physical violence. In nineteen ninety two, the two were separated and Raymond had started a relationship with Brenda's cousin Tammy, who he would later marry the month of her son's first birthday, July nineteen ninety two. She filed a report with the police on the abuse, but then dropped it immediately thereafter. According to her sister, Raymond had threatened to kill her if she didn't. When Brenda and her family threw a first birthday party for her son. Both Raymond and Tammy showed up uninvited, and then after the party, they took the kids with them to stay at Raymond's parents house, which seemed very strange to everybody in attendance. The party ended around nine when the final guests left, and she would have been in the house alone that night with the kids at Raymond's parents, and she's never been seen since. Around eleven p m, Raymond showed up at one of her sister's homes, apparently worried that Brenda was missing. He claimed that he stopped by the house, but she wasn't there. The next morning, her family went to the house to check on her. Her car was in the driveway. All of her belongings were there. Her purse, her keys, everything. But no Brenda. They called the police. And Raymond told the police that she was dating someone else and may have just taken off with him, which her family strongly disputes. They said she would never just leave her children. This also reminds me of a case we covered recently, the disappearance of Diana Leon. He also said that her boyfriend was a man named Mark or something. Another local man named Mark cook disappeared in January of nineteen ninety three, and there was a tip to the police that made them think that Brenda and Mark were involved, but there has never been any proof of that. In the thirty three years since her disappearance, no suspects have been named in the case, and according to her family, it has simply been passed from one detective to the next with no resolution, which would give her family the closure they need. As of twenty twenty five, it's been thirty three years, and her sister doesn't believe that Brenda is likely to be found alive. Sadly, her family very much wants to learn what happened to her and are offering a ten thousand dollars reward for the location of her remains. They also promise amnesty and not to pursue charges against anyone responsible. They just want to find out what happened. If you know anything about Brenda's whereabouts, her family asks you to contact the Mercer County Sheriff at three oh four four eight seven eight three six four. We will also share photos of Brenda. She was five feet two inches tall and one hundred and ten pounds, with black hair and blue eyes.

Shaun The next story we have to share this week is Aisha Jackson, a young woman who went missing just two weeks before her twenty third birthday. According to her brother, Aisha is a quiet person who loves to dance. She's happy go lucky, and she has a certain special something that when she enters a room, everything changes. Her family has not heard from her since November fourth, twenty twenty. I reviewed several news reports about Aisha's disappearance and to me, the timeline is muddy. But the police released an update this past October twenty twenty five. Aisha lived in southern Arkansas, just north of the border with Louisiana. She was last seen at a Halloween party in El Dorado, Arkansas, on the night of October thirty one, twenty twenty, and there are some photos of her from this event. We know that her mom has said that on November second, after not being able to reach her daughter, she went to her apartment. She found the door open and Aisha's wallet and cell phone inside. Now, Aisha's uncle said that she drove to Houston with him on November third, which is about six hours away from El Dorado, Arkansas, and they returned to El Dorado on November fourth. Her uncle said he dropped her off at her place around nine p m that night. Aisha herself didn't have a car or a driver's license, and it's obvious to her mom and the authorities that whatever happened to her, she didn't leave on her own. The police have executed search warrants, searched wooded areas with ATVs, canines, cadaver dogs, even drones. The family has done their own searches on foot as well. There was apparently a lot of false information and rumors that the police were forced to follow up on in this case, and in December of twenty twenty, a man was even arrested for trying to extort money out of the family, claiming that he had information about Aisha's whereabouts and trying to get them to give him eight thousand dollars. Both state and federal agencies have been involved in the search for Aisha. I don't know the specifics of whatever evidence they collected, but there must have been some info or items they obtained that have caused them to believe that the worst has happened to her. One of Asia's boyfriends, named Samaji Deshmukh, was arrested in December of twenty twenty, in connection with her disappearance on suspicion of murder. However, he was not formally charged by prosecutors and was released in February of twenty twenty one. Aisha and Semaj had recently broken up, and prior to her disappearance, she had told the police that he had broken into her apartment twice in the same week. He is currently incarcerated for an unrelated criminal charge, and as of October twenty twenty five, the family has a private investigator looking into her disappearance. Light the way sponsored a billboard for the family in April of twenty twenty four. But it's been five years and there's been no answers. Asia's Facebook page. Her personal page still exists, and the quote she chose to put in her intro says, always keep your faith up and keep pushing no matter what. Aisha was born on November sixteen, nineteen ninety seven, which would make her twenty two years old but almost twenty three when she disappeared. She's a black woman. Today she'd be twenty eight years old. She's five foot two, one hundred and fifteen pounds, and at the time she disappeared. Her hair was long, her black hair was long and in braids, and her eyes are brown, and she has several distinctive tattoos. On her left chest. There's a heart with a dove behind it that says love or loves on her stomach and hip. There's a floral design with vines and ribbon and flowers that starts at her right hip area and goes under her belly button, and she has a rose behind her right ear. She also has a condition called vitiligo, which is where the skin loses pigment and white patches, and the patches can be seen on her face and on her body. She has multiple piercings in both ears and a piercing on the right side of her nose. At the time she disappeared, records state she was wearing a white t shirt with red dye splotches, a short black tulle skirt, and black patterned tights. To me, this sounds like what she was wearing on Halloween and possibly not what she was wearing November third or fourth when she might have gone missing. We will, of course, share her photos and a missing poster on our social media this week, so be sure to share those and help spread the word so her family can finally get answers. Parents United Against Youth Violence have sponsored a ten thousand dollars reward, and you can text or call in tips anonymously to Zero four four zero zero zero zero zero. You can also contact Sergeant Kelly Rowland at El Dorado Police at eight seven zero eight eight one four eight zero zero, or the Union County Sheriff at eight seven zero eight six four one nine seven zero, or El Dorado Crime Stoppers at eight seven zero eight six three. Info. Aisha's mom, Laquita has said this is still not resting in my heart. My heart is still hurting to see if she's still out there. Her grandma Earnestine says Aisha, just no baby. We aren't going to stop until you are back home. Please support this family, especially during the holidays, by sharing Aisha's photo and following the Bring Aisha Jackson Home Facebook page. We're going to pause here for our last break, and we'll be right back with our final case of missing at the holidays.

John Our last case today is the disappearance of Lauren Steele, a sex trafficking victim who went missing on August fifth, twenty twenty four. Lauren was born August thirty first, nineteen eighty eight, and she's originally from New York but was living in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She's a white female, thirty seven years old, five feet four inches tall, with green eyes and strawberry blonde hair. She has tattoos on her right shoulder, left forearm, left torso, and left thigh. And when we share photos, we'll share photos where you can see the tattoos because they're pretty identifiable. Originally, she had rented a room where she was living in Virginia, and the people she rented it to turned out to be sex traffickers. Eventually, she was able to escape, and she let her family know that she was safe. But she always kept moving, afraid that they would find her and hurt her or her family. On August fifth, twenty twenty four, she left home, telling her family she was going to Las Vegas to get treatment as a human trafficking survivor. She was booked on a flight. The flight turned out to be delayed due to weather, and she was put up in a hotel by the airline. That night she called her mom and told her that there was a man outside the room who was going to help her get to the airport, and that was the last time that she was heard from. Strangely, her phone arrived in Las Vegas, but there's no record of her having been on the flight. She is classified as missing and endangered in Pennsylvania, but since there is no proof that she actually arrived here in Las Vegas, Metro won't engage in any search activities because, as you're well aware, three hundred people go missing here in Las Vegas each month. Her family believes she is still alive, but her brother especially thinks she might still be being sex trafficked. She is known to suffer from mental health issues and has had substance abuse issues as well. If you have any information on her whereabouts, please contact the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation at Nine five four two seven. This coming January twenty six, twenty twenty six is the second annual Missing in Nevada Day. We participated in the first annual Missing Nevada Day about a year ago, and we set up our booth for our podcast at the event and met several families who were looking for their missing loved ones. Currently, there are three hundred unclaimed persons here in Nevada, and there are currently more than twenty five thousand people missing. This event helps identify people and help get their family the closure they need. Last year at the event, they filed ten new missing person reports. They reunified multiple families with loved ones who were still alive, and they provided two death certifications for loved ones who were unclaimed. And the process is if you have a missing loved one, you can come to the event with photos, forensic sketches. Records like medical records, dental records, and DNA samples can be donated. Person's last known location and any photographs, and it can all be uploaded into a database. Melanie Rouse, the Clark County Coroner, said every family deserves answers and every missing loved one deserves to be remembered. Missing in Nevada Day is about opening doors, providing support and ensuring that no family has to navigate this journey alone. We are committed to doing everything we can to bring closure, healing and hope.

Shaun We're really looking forward to attending the event this year and connecting with more families who are seeking answers.

John The event will be held on the twenty sixth of January from ten a m to four p m at UNLV's University Gateway building, near the northeast corner of Maryland Parkway and Dorothy Avenue. Participants who are unable to attend the event in person but want to provide information can email missing Nevada's Clark County, NV.

Shaun I just want to take a second and add that we are sending love to all the families we know who are grieving the loss of a loved one this year. We are so thankful for all the love and support we've received this year, and we appreciate the connections we have made, and we want to say thank you to our podcast colleagues who are passionate about justice for families, and keep these names out there and support these families in their darkest times. As we say, what happens here happens everywhere. Thanks, as always for listening and we wish you all the best in twenty twenty six.

John Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod.co/subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to listen ad free. Remember to like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and threads at medicines and survivors. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at Questions@SinsandSurvivors.com

Shaun If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or need support, please reach out to local resources or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources is available on our website. And survivors and survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast is researched, written and produced by your host, Sean and John. The information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording. If you have questions, concerns or corrections, please email us. Links to source material for this episode can be found on our website and survivors comm.

John The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast creators, hosts, and their guests. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal professionals for guidance.